The Cabinet decision to amend the law to exempt the state-run Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Ltd (KRIDL) from the tender process for works up to Rs 2 crore will open floodgates of corruption, anti-graft activists argue.
The amendment, according to sources, was to circumvent a High Court order that stayed handing over projects to KRIDL. The exemption will also affect reservation offered to SC/ST contractors in projects below Rs 50 lakh. DH was the first to report the proposal to amend the law.
Speaking to DH, G R Anil Kumar, social activist who has filed a petition in High Court over works taken by KRIDL, alleged that the amendment to Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement (KTPP) Act raises suspicions that it was done only for the benefit of elected representatives and officials. “It is surprising that the same BJP leaders who had opposed any proposal to amend KTPP Act for the benefit of KRIDL or Nirmiti Kendra, are now mooting the amendment,” he said.
The amendment, he said, was to bypass a High Court order which stayed sanctioning works to KRIDL by exempting them under the provisions of KTPP Act. “Earlier, works were entrusted to KRIDL, even though the agency did not have the resources to take up works. They even sub-contracted projects in violation of guidelines,” he said.
Previously, the SC/ST Contractors Association under its president N Mahadevaswamy had petitioned the government against any move to amend KTPP to help KRIDL.
“Not only does the amendment violate transparency initiatives, it also robs SC/ST contractors of projects that are reserved for them,” Mahadevaswamy had said in a petition.
Meanwhile, according to a reply for an unstarred question by Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K S Eshwarappa in the Legislative Assembly, KRIDL has written to the government to increase the exemption limit from Rs 2 crore to Rs 5 crore.